A few months ago, my aging MacBook Pro went kaput on me. I was forced to buy a refurbished late-2012 iMac. (Not enough money to get the laptop I wanted.)

This is the newest iMac; the one with no built-in DVD drive or FireWire. It runs MacOS 10.8 and has 8 GB of RAM. I also got a USB Superdrive for the iMac.

I need advice on how to run Windows software on this machine. I am concerned about going the Bootcamp route and running Windows 7 directly on the iMac. Sounds like a security risk. (Please, no debate over this point. That's not what this thread is about.)

Friends and other contacts have suggested running Windows via Parallels or Fusion. Does anyone here know about these "virtual machine" approaches? Also, can this virtual machine approach be used to run older versions of the MacOS on the iMac's brand-new hardware?

Take your pick (bootcamp vs. Parallels). Windows is Windows. You need to protect Windows with either method.

Parallels and Fusion let you run Windows without having to restart the computer.

There are benefits to both methods. Gamers tend to favor bootcamp (less overhead because you are only running 1 OS). Your iMac is new enough that overhead is not an issue (unless you are a hardcore gamer).

Parallels and Fusion let you run Windows without having to reboot. Time Machine will back up your OsX and Windows environment. Cut and paste from One OS to the other. Drag and drop file folders etc. No need to partition HD or allocate HD space. Windows will only occupy the space needed.

To install either. Install Parallels or Fusion, then you will be prompted for the Windows disk.

There are plenty of 5 pages articles that compare the two. I'm bot going to get into a debate over which is better, both are good.

Parallels 1 install per license. Fusion you can install on all you home computers.

I'd vote Fusion. I've run both and have had less issues with Fusion, personally. I also prefer Fusion because of it's interface, it seems more intuitive to me. Lastly, Fusion allows you (Parallels may also) to put the app in the dock just like a Mac app. It will run Fusion in the background and you will only see the app window.

Some of the software I have is old, including stuff on my almost-ten-year-old G4 iMac (which has OS X 10.4.11 and "classic" 9.2)

Some software can be replaced, but it's a matter of funding and timing. I'm trying to slowly transition myself so that I can eventually run everything on the new iMac and phase-out the old G4 iMac. This will take time. I need to find an interim solution, and I'm hoping a virtual machine could help me.

A few months ago, my aging MacBook Pro went kaput on me. I was forced to buy a refurbished late-2012 iMac. (Not enough money to get the laptop I wanted.)

This is the newest iMac; the one with no built-in DVD drive or FireWire. It runs MacOS 10.8 and has 8 GB of RAM. I also got a USB Superdrive for the iMac.

I need advice on how to run Windows software on this machine. I am concerned about going the Bootcamp route and running Windows 7 directly on the iMac. Sounds like a security risk. (Please, no debate over this point. That's not what this thread is about.)

Friends and other contacts have suggested running Windows via Parallels or Fusion. Does anyone here know about these "virtual machine" approaches? Also, can this virtual machine approach be used to run older versions of the MacOS on the iMac's brand-new hardware?

I know this seems strange, but other people I interact with use these various Win-only apps and I need to be able to collaborate with them from time to time.

What are the differences between Parallels and Fusion? What do I need to do to install either of these?

T.I.A.

you can just ask google for it..ya i used it too... i different type of software and do wanna know what happened at last?...i stopped using windows file and living a happy life with my one and only Mac ...End of the Story

[quote="MacUser_Since_1986"]A few months ago, my aging MacBook Pro went kaput on me. I was forced to buy a refurbished late-2012 iMac. (Not enough money to get the laptop I wanted.)

This is the newest iMac; the one with [u]no[/u] built-in DVD drive or FireWire. It runs MacOS 10.8 and has 8 GB of RAM. I also got a USB Superdrive for the iMac.

I need advice on how to run Windows software on this machine. I am concerned about going the Bootcamp route and running Windows 7 directly on the iMac. Sounds like a security risk. (Please, no debate over this point. That's not what this thread is about.)

Friends and other contacts have suggested running Windows via Parallels or Fusion. Does anyone here know about these "virtual machine" approaches? Also, can this virtual machine approach be used to run older versions of the MacOS on the iMac's brand-new hardware?

I know this seems strange, but other people I interact with use these various Win-only apps and I need to be able to collaborate with them from time to time.

What are the differences between Parallels and Fusion? What do I need to do to install either of these?

T.I.A.[/quote]

you can just ask google for it..ya i used it too... i used different type of software for windows file running and do you wanna know what happened at last?...i stopped using windows file and living a happy life with my one and only Mac ...End of the Story

149.99 to 249.99 for a copy of windows 7 on amazon don't use windows 8 it wont run correctly.

now if you where just running apps and not needed the usb support for the gps i could recommend wineskin it runs all windows software in mac os native support and its free but no usb driver support for gps